Well Socrates is 70 when he dies. He's been allowed to philosophise freely in the city for almost 50 years. He clearly was - genius is an overused word - but he clearly did have something of the genius about him. — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
When you look at Istanbul, from Byzantium to the present day, it's striking how it has always been a city of the people, with a political voice, right from its early classical history. — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
After I graduated, I carried on with my academic work, via grants but I often had a market stall on Camden Market selling hand-painted… — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
I think it's ironic when Plato makes the learned woman Aspasia Socrates' teacher, but I think women crop up more in the Platonic dialogues… — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
Even the picturesque prehistoric settlements at Akrotiri on the Greek island of Santorini were an exercise in problem-solving; white-washed homes and town halls built… — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
For the Spartans, it wasn’t walls or magnificent public buildings that made a city; it was their own ideals. In essence, Sparta was a… — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
Of all the human figurines discovered so far from 30,000-3,000BC, 92% are of the female form. This is not to say there was any… — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
I think Socrates was fascinated by Alcibiades. It's almost the opposite of hypocrisy. I think it's like when you can see the potential in… — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
Sophia - a mystical female presence whose appearance is only fleeting in the Hebrew Bible and New Testament - was clearly once a household… — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
Ancient Egyptian women had rights under the law. They could own land. Many were literate. — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
The word 'America' probably didn't appear in the Persian language until the end of the 18th century - but then with a documented past… — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
History was invented as a tool, an engineered road down which human society could advance. — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
“Herodotus, the ‘Father of History’, records the moment – and you can hear the emotion in his voice as he does so, a mixture… — Bettany Hughes Copy Share Image
